The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-01-27

! backbiting. There is a letter in the
GentLemGn's Magazine for 1875 finding
fault with ladies ''who make their tea
table the mart to dispense scandal and
attack regulations, and later we have
a writer in the Connolsseur bewailin9
the loss of time and the proclamation OF
the Sabbath consequent upon Sunday
evening tea drinking. The beverage
had by this time become pretty much a
tavorite at social gatherings through
out the country and neither the econo-
mists nor the wits could counterfeit
what was quickly becoming a popular
demand. Beside, tea had its champions
as well as its detractors. DR.. johnson
came to the rescue among others and
boldly confessed himself "a hardened
and shameless tea drinker. who has for
many years diluted his meals with the
infusion of this fascinating plant, whose
kettle has scarcely time to cool; who
with tea amnses the evening, with tea
solaces the midnight and with tea well
comes the morning" When we get to
Colley Cibber, we find the beverage
apostrophized in this fashion-"Tea,
thou soft. thou sober, safe and venerable
liquid; thou female tOngue-running,
smile-smOthing, heart-opening and
wink-tipping cordial. to whose glorious
insipidity l owe the happiest moments
of my life - Waller has the lines:
The MUSES. friend, tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapOrs which the head invade.
And keeps the palace OF the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen.
Nor should Cowper's delightful home
picture be forgotten in this connection,
if only to give the original form of the
modified words chosen as the title of
this sketch:
Now stir the fire and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round;
And while the bubbling and lOud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not iaebriate' wait on each,
To LEI is welcome peaceful evening In.
The question seems to have arisen
very early in the use of tea as to the
amount of the infusion which one might
safely take. Several medical men had
pronounced it not only safe itself, but
physician, writing in 1911, commendS it
as panacea for almost every ailment
and does not think that 200 cups daily
would be too much even for a moderate
drinker! This, however, was interested
testimony, the physician in question
having, it is said, been brought over
for the purpose by the Dutch East
India Company. At the same time,
there have been tea drinkers whose APP
petite for the beverage was virtually
Unsuitable. 1t was not unusual for
Robert Hall, the divine, to swallow
twenty cups at Il sitting. To Johnson,
Us already indicated, the beverage
never came amiss. There is a story in
which Sir Joshua Reynolds is credited
with reminding him that he had just
drunk eleven cups. Sir" said John
son, Il did not count your glasses of
wine, why should you number my cups
of tea?" Then he piayfully added, IF
it had not been for your remark, l
should have released the lady from any
further trouble; but you have reminded
me that | want one of the dozen and l
must ask the lady to round up the
number The story does not end
here, for we are assured that as John
son was slipping his twelfth cup he told
how. on one occasion, being invited to
a party to be made lion of, he had his
revenge by swallowing twenty-five cups
of tea and not treating his hostess to as
many words. The right method of
tea for drinking was not
at first easily understood. The Chinese
say we have not mastered the secret
yet; but we have undoubtedly improved
upon the instructions left by an
authority in the last century, whose adj
vice was either TO boil and drink the
liquid when the leaves settle to the bot
tom, or steep the tea overnight in cold
water and boil in the morning before
Crude as this system was, it
was preferable to boiling the leaves and
then eating them with butter, pepper
and salt, as was done in some country
places in ignorance of the proper use of
the plant. There is reference also to
custom last century of first serving the
leaves between thin slices of bread and
butter and eating them as a delicacy.
The distinguishing names for tea are
not expressive, as is generally supposed,
of particular varieties of the plant.
They relate chiefly to the conditions
under which'the leaves are picked. The
principal black teas are BOhea, Congou,
SouchOng and Pekoe; while green teas
are known "a HySOn, Twankay and
Gunpowder. OF the black varieties
Pekoe stands first, and of the green
Gunpowder has the preference. The
PekOe consists of the buds and very
young leaves and is gathered early in
spring. The Souchong is the result of
the second picking, which is made about
the beginning of May. Congou is the
name given to the third gathering, and
Boliea is late leaf. Of the green teas,
HySon is gathering of tender leaflets
and Gunpowder is a selection of Hyson.
The Twankay is the last crop of
the season. China continues the prin-
cipal source of the English supply of
tea, though we now import largely also
from Assam and India. In the United
States the japanese variety is at least
as extensively used as the Chinese. The
fact that other places than the Celestial
Empire now cultivate the tea plant is
benefit to the consumer, not only in
a larger supply of the article, but as
protection against aduteration. The
best Quality of tea never leaves China: